Don't Giving On God (Part Two)

Conclusion of my sermon on Hebrews 12:18-29

2) DON’T GIVE UP - THE CONSEQUENCES ARE DIRE

Earlier I asked what, if not persecution, might cause Westerners to abandon Christ? There’s a website dedicated to “ex Christians” and quite a lot of testimonies of “Deconversion”. 

Here are quotes from different stories:

“I would try to pray in my room at night, but after hearing no response from God, I would feel like maybe he didn't love me, or looked down on me so much because of my sins that he couldn't even talk to me.” “Finally I was able to admit to myself that god had never been there for me, had never showed himself to me or talked to me, and any emotional response I had from praying had been self induced.” “Xtianity is a vile pestilence bent on propagating itself while destroying all forms of unbelief.” “In addition to the ugliness of Christians, I also saw how horrible Christianity is. Too many things didn't add up. The "loving" god increasingly looked to me like an abusive, sadistic, megalomaniacal, and above all, evil creature.” “The Catholic Church has been exposed as a home for pedophile priests. The Protestant Church has more than its share of sexual predators and deviants.” “About 5 years ago I developed a physical problem which caused me tremendous angst and stress. I believed in healing miracles and prayed to Jesus frequently, sometimes 10 times a day. The result: Nothing. Jesus would not heal me in the slightest. After praying for a year with no results I began getting frustrated with God and wondering after all I have done for him these past 20 years why he was ignoring me.” “I  realized that the Creation, original sin, crucifixion, salvation chain of events wouldn't work anyway I tried to comprehend it and I saw more and more examples of Christianity proudly standing up for things that were not what I was about.”

This is nothing new. If you read the Psalms, you see similar things. Psalmists asking why God has abandoned them, why the wicked prosper, why God doesn’t just show up and do something! These Psalms are real life. 

Does it matter that those people abandoned God? After all, we often chop and change our allegiances these days. Is your insurance, your broadband, utilities, supermarket, too expensive? Switch and save money! Is Christianity making you miserable, guilty, unsure, outraged? Become an atheist and enjoy life! 

Do we find this lax attitude in Hebrews? Far from it! Abandoning God is not a light thing. And maybe for those ex-Christians it wasn’t easy. But it was the wrong decision. 

Hebrews 3:12 warns: “...be careful that no one among you has a heart so evil and unbelieving as to turn away from the living God.”

Hebrews 6:4-6 is very blunt indeed: “For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.”

Hebrews 12:25: “Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!”

See also Hebrews 2:1-3, 4:1

These warnings are strong. Some would say this is manipulation and spiritual abuse. Actually, it is love and concern. He doesn’t want them to fall under judgement. I’m closing this point with Hebrews 10:26-31. “For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us. Instead, all that is left is to wait in fear for the coming Judgment and the fierce fire which will destroy those who oppose God! Anyone who disobeys the Law of Moses is put to death without any mercy when judged guilty from the evidence of two or more witnesses. What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve! For we know who said, “I will take revenge, I will repay”; and who also said, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

These ex-Christians are truly to be pitied. Let’s do all we can to avoid becoming like them.

CONCLUSION

Hebrews contains encouragements and warnings. This good things/bad things approach is totally biblical. Deuteronomy 28 is a list of blessings for obeying God and curses for disobeying Him. Two chapters later, Moses tells the Israelites: “I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life.” God told Adam, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.” Jesus stated, “So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!”

The choice of the Hebrews, the choice of Israel, the choice of Adam - this is our choice. In the words of John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment.” Is God a tyrant? No. “He is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.” (2 Peter 3:9) “I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11)

Hebrews 11 recalls Old Testament men and women of faith to whom God had made great promises. The writer concludes with truly shocking words: “What a record all of these have won by their faith! Yet they did not receive what God had promised…” Wait! What! God made promises to these people and they didn’t get what He promised them! Maybe the atheists are right? Can you trust this God? Well, the writer continues, “because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.” God delayed fulfilling His promises because of the better, New Covenant plan. We are one people with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and so on. As you and I are brothers and sisters in Christ, so you and Moses and all the other Old Testament believers are brothers and sisters in Christ.

What does God have in store for us all? A Ford Fiesta, or a Porsche (metaphorically speaking)? God made promises of earthly land to Old Testament believers (the Ford Fiesta), all the time intending to give them a heavenly city (the Porsche). It’s not a case of Earth for the Old Testament Jews, Heaven for the Christians. It’s a new Heaven and a new Earth for both. We enter the ultimate promise together, hand in hand, one people in Christ. The Bible gives us glimpses of this new world. Past events will be completely forgotten. It is a place of righteousness. A place of God’s presence, with no more death, grief, crying or pain. We will see Jesus. This is our home. Choose life.

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Don't Give Up On God (Part One)

This is a sermon I preached on 25th August, 2019
It is based on Hebrews 12:18-29

INTRO 1

Imagine you’re 16 years old. Your parents sit you down and you think, “what have I done now!” But, no. They tell you that, on your 18th birthday, they’re going to buy you a car - a second hand Ford Fiesta. You are shocked. You can’t wait to get a car! So you try being extra-good. You do the chores you’ve been asked to, and some others besides. You devour the Highway Code. You take lessons and you love it. Your 18th birthday creeps closer and you’re getting excited. You read lots of articles on the Internet about Ford Fiestas. You feel like an expert. Then it comes - the night before! You are so pumped up you can hardly sleep! Your parents call you. They drive you to the car lot. They tell you to close your eyes. They guide you along and tell you to open them. You are standing next to a Porsche! You don’t understand. “Where’s my Ford Fiesta?” you ask, puzzled. Your parents tell you they love you so much they’ve bought you this Porsche. This was always their plan. But your heart was set on the Ford.

INTRO 2

There was a problem amongst the original recipients of the letter to the “Hebrews”. Some were close to giving up their Christian faith. They had turned to Jesus as Messiah - and were getting trouble in return. Being disowned by family; having the authorities on their backs; having their goods confiscated; being thrown out of their homes. Was faith in Jesus worth it?

The writer encourages them repeatedly not to give up. 

Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. Hebrews 4:14 GNB and 10:23

Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end. Hebrews 6:11 GNB

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Hebrews 10:25 GNB

Do not lose your courage. Hebrews 10:35 GNB

We are not people who turn back and are lost. Hebrews 10:39 GNB

(Jesus) did not give up because of the cross! Hebrews 12:2 GNB

Guard against turning back from the grace of God… Let no one become immoral or unspiritual. Hebrews 12:15-16 GNB

See also Hebrews 3:6, 13:9

And here are the reasons the writer gives:

Don’t give up - Christ is faithful and is in charge of us. Christ is our High Priest who is in God’s presence.

Don’t give up - because what we hope for in Christ WILL happen; we can trust God to keep His promises.

Don’t give up - there is a great reward waiting for us.

Don’t give up - we have faith and we are saved. Look to Jesus as our example. He went to the cross and now He’s seated at God’s right hand. Keep trusting in God’s grace.

Some of you here have experienced the kind of persecution which puts your life or livelihood at risk. I haven’t. I can’t imagine how awful it must be, living with the possibility of being imprisoned, assaulted, killed, just because I’m a Christian. The worst that has happened to me is being laughed at or disagreed with or blocked on Twitter. Most Westerners won’t have suffered such persecution. In my second point I’ll consider what might cause Westerners to abandon Christ. 

1) DON’T GIVE UP - WHAT WE HAVE IN CHRIST IS BETTER

Here’s another set of reasons why the writer says not to abandon the faith. What they have now in Christ is far better than what they had before. Here’s a summary of the relevant verses:

Christ is greater than the angels.

Christ is better than Moses, the Law of Moses and guarantees a better covenant.

Christ is a better priest than the old covenant priests; a High Priest serving in the better, heavenly temple, of which the earthly temple was a copy.

Christ’s sacrifice is better than animal sacrifices.

In Christ, we possess heavenly things, which are better than earthly things.

In Christ, we inherit something better than the old covenant promised.

Christ’s blood provides for God’s mercy.

Hebrews 1:4,Hebrews 3:3,Hebrews 7:19,22,Hebrews 8:6,Hebrews 9:11,14,23,Hebrews 10:34,Hebrews 11:40,Hebrews 12:24

For a Jewish Christian, it was crystal clear - it would be crazy to turn your back on Jesus. You would be losing out big time. It’s like what the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:5-8: “I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault. But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ”. This is what the writer of Hebrews is trying to get across.

Our reading from Hebrews 12 showcases a stark contrast between the Old Covenant and the New:

“You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word, because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.”

To abandon Christ is to abandon what is better. Do you ever wonder if Christianity is worth it? The Israelites in the desert wondered whether following God was worth it. They grumbled and moaned that they would have been better off in Egypt. How quickly had they forgotten the slavery they underwent there. Remember what they had witnessed. Ten plagues which God sent on Egypt. The miraculous parting of the Red Sea. The miraculous provision of manna and quails in the desert. God leading them in a pillar of cloud and of fire. If we had seen such miracles, would we have trusted God? We have a better covenant. And don’t we still moan and complain? At least a little bit? Sometimes? Does anyone look back to the time before they became Christians and think, “ah, the good old days. It was easier then”? If the answer is “no, we don’t”, that is great. But it may be a temptation now, as it was back then. Think of what you have now and where you are heading. We can’t see the heavenly Jerusalem, and angels, the faithful departed rejoicing in God’s presence. We can’t see Jesus standing before the Father, interceding on our behalf. But we live this Christian life by faith. We need to keep encouraging one another to look to Jesus, because life on Earth can be grim, tough and nasty, and can drag you into a downward spiral of misery and doubt. 

In our Psalm reading (103:1-8), we see King David encouraging himself. Maybe there was nobody around to help him? “Praise the Lord, oh my soul! All my being, praise His holy name!” David has a chat with himself, reminding himself of all God had done for him. Forgiveness, healing, protection, blessing, all manner of good things. If we feel like giving up, or that God doesn’t love us, or we feel like throwing a tantrum at God, or we start moaning, we could sit ourselves down, praise God, and recall what He has done for us.

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Hating Jesus, Hating God - Part Two

A sermon I preached on Palm Sunday evening - continued

My second point, considering today’s readings, is to ask this question:

2 - What does it mean to hate God now, and can a Christian hate God?

Is this all just theology but, ultimately, should be preached to those who don’t know God rather than those who do? Ideally, yes. Every bit of my theological being wants to shout, “Don’t be stupid! Of course a Christian can’t hate God! That makes no sense!” And it’s true. It makes no sense. We need to bear in mind that hate means a strong dislike of something or someone. And not all hate is equal. You can “hate” fish (i.e. you dislike the taste). You can “hate” your job (you find no pleasure in it). You can “hate” the actions of other people (burglars, murderers, politicians). You can “hate” people themselves (sometimes this is rational and often not).

Hate towards God can also take these forms: a dislike of “religion” can transfer itself to God; you can find that you lose interest in God and the things of God; you can hate what you perceive to be God’s actions (oh, God, why did you let this happen to me - I don’t want anything to do with you now); you can irrationally hate the person of God because you don’t know Him or understand Him properly.

I’d suggest the most obvious form of “hate” the Christian might show towards God is expressed through the Hebrew idiom of “I love x but I hate y”. Take Luke 14:26 in the NIV: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” That is, “I love x (Jesus), but I hate y (family/myself). To think that God intends us to hate our families goes against Bible teaching which Jesus Himself endorsed/quoted, not least the commandment to honour your father and mother, and “if you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death”. Good News Bible dodges the word “hate” altogether but explains the meaning for us: “Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.” It’s an expression of preference. Who are we going to prize higher when there is a conflict of interest? Whose side are we going to take? Jesus’, our own, our families? To prioritise Jesus, would be to “hate” our families. To prioritise our families would be to “hate” Jesus. The parable of the sower maybe gives us a practical insight into this preference. If we give up on God because we come to think Bible is nonsense, or we give up at the first sign of trouble, or the worries of life and the riches of the world stifle our love for God, then we are effectively “hating” Him because we prefer those things to Him.

On another occasion, while speaking to the disciples, Jesus was clearly having a swipe at the Pharisees who seemed to have been earwigging, when He said: “No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The plain meaning is that if we love money we will hate God. It’s a very real danger in our society. “The worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.” Paul wrote to Timothy: “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.”

It is possible to become so twisted that we make ourselves God’s enemies. Consider James 4:1-6. “Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you. You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures. Unfaithful people! Don't you know that to be the world's friend means to be God's enemy? If you want to be the world's friend, you make yourself God's enemy.” I don’t know if James is being deliberately over the top in his language. Fights, quarrels, ready to kill. It’s not pretty reading. Christians can, it seems, make themselves God’s enemies. The antidote to this is: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble… So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

We recently studied the book of Malachi in our house group and this is a real case of how you can sleepwalk into hating God. Either religion has become so routine that cutting corners and showing disdain for God had crept upon them, or else they knew they were doing wrong and, like Cain, pretended they didn’t know why He was making such a fuss. They doubted God’s love for them. They disrespected Him by bringing stolen, lame and sick animals to sacrifice. Worship had become a burden. The priests turned away from the right path and taught the people to do wrong. They broke promises to God and to one another. Men divorced their wives to take up with younger foreign women who worshiped other gods. They cheated God by withholding the full tithes and offerings. They thought it was pointless serving God because God helped the wicked to prosper. I missed out some things but the picture is clear - Israel had a grievance with God. As with the Pharisees, religion was no protection from hating God. In Isaiah 29:13 we see God’s view of those who do religion for its own sake. The Lord said, “These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.” Jesus Himself picks up this verse and hurls it at the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We have to guard ourselves from this. We can’t let our worship become just a meaningless round of church services, reading words from an overhead projector or a book, giving as little as we can to keep the church going, waiting anxiously for the service to end so we can chat with our friends.

OK, so this has been a heavy preach. I’ll end this point with a bit of humour, before going on to a positive conclusion.

Soap operas. I don’t watch them any more but I’ve often wondered - when there’s a bad character, everyone shouts at the tv or posts angrily on social media. But I wonder, are there people who actually side with the bad guy? Do they cheer him on? Picture the scene: a wicked man and a kind woman in a room. She goes out, leaving her opened handbag temptingly on the table. He looks at it. Most of us would shout for her to come quickly back into the room. But are there people who shout, “go on my son, nick the silly old bat’s purse”. Or a happy couple in the pub and the jealous, nasty, drunk ex-boyfriend who walks up to them. Most people would shout, “watch out! He’s behind you!” But are there people shouting at the screen, “She should be yours, drunky. Go on, smash his smiley face in!”

So, what has this to do with anything? Well, when it comes to the Gospels, I wonder if there are people who side with the Pharisees when they are conflict with Jesus? Well, that would be hating God if they did. And I don’t think I need to pursue this thought, except to suggest that, if we read what God says in the Bible and tell Him we don’t agree with Him, or we read what He did and tell Him He was wrong to do it, then we are on dangerous ground.

Conclusion

So, to conclude, what happens if you find you’re in conflict with God, that you are “hating” Him, that you are doing things which are making Him your enemy? What do you do if you find you are preferring family or your own will when they conflict with what God tells you to do? What do you do when you find yourself in power struggles with other Christians, quarreling and fighting with them instead of loving them? What do you do if you find you have become obsessed with money and it is getting in the way of your relationship with God? What do you do when you are bored with God, can’t be bothered with Him, are disillusioned? What do you do when you find you are so wrapped up in worries that you no longer trust God to look after you? There are various things you can do to tackle these situations, but the one overarching spiritual thing is to repent. All is not lost. You are not in a hopeless situation. God stands ready to forgive. “If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing” (1 John 1:9). “Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven…” If Jesus requires this level of forgiveness from Peter, how much more would we expect forgiveness from Jesus Himself?

Hating Jesus, Hating God - Part One

The text of a sermon I preached on Palm Sunday evening

A famous quote has been attributed to former Prime Minister Harold Wilson: “A week is a long time in politics.” And haven’t we been aware of that recently?! Fortunes and events can change so rapidly. Today is Palm Sunday. This morning, churches focus on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, on a donkey, receiving adulation and cries of “God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!” One week later (spoiler alert), Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, arrested, denied by Peter, mocked and beaten, sent from Pilate to Herod and back again, sentenced unjustly to death, crucified, died, buried and raised from the dead!

The first of my two points this evening is:

1 - To Hate God is to Hate Jesus, and vice versa

The Psalm appointed for this evening, Psalm 69, is already pointing us beyond the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the crucifixion. To my mind, this is a remarkable messianic psalm. You could easily imagine the vast majority of it coming from the lips of the crucified Christ. Just one verse after the reading ended, we get this: “When I was hungry, they gave me poison; when I was thirsty, they offered me vinegar.” All four gospels mark the fulfilment of this in Jesus.

There are several verses from Psalm 69 which we encounter in the New Testament. Verse 4: “Those who hate me for no reason are more numerous than the hairs of my head. My enemies tell lies against me; they are strong and want to kill me.” Jesus refers to this Himself in John 15. He speaks to His disciples:

“Whoever hates me hates my Father also. They would not have been guilty of sin if I had not done among them the things that no one else ever did; as it is, they have seen what I did, and they hate both me and my Father. This, however, was bound to happen so that what is written in their Law may come true: ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’”

The first half of Psalm 69:9 says this: “My devotion to your Temple burns in me like a fire”. Another version puts it, “Zeal for your house consumes me.” This gets quoted in John 2:17. Jesus upsets the apple cart quite early on here. Or, more literally, the money changers’ tables. He is zealous for His Father’s house, the Temple. He is angry that it is being treated like a marketplace. He makes a whip and drives out the animals being traded, overturns the traders’ tables, spilling their money all over the place. The Jewish authorities ask him (I imagine, with a sneer), “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?” He tells them to tear down this temple and He’ll rebuild it again. He was talking about His death and resurrection, pointing to a greater Temple - His body. Jesus wasn’t setting out to please men.

As time goes on we realise Jesus didn’t fit in with the idea of Messiah. He was a threat to the religious establishment. He pointed out their hypocrisy. He contravened their rules. He aroused their jealousy. They set out to trap Him on numerous occasions. The gospels are full of this. They hated Jesus and therefore they hated God, because Jesus did what the Father wanted and was one with the Father.

The second half of Psalm 69:9 states, “the insults which are hurled at you fall on me.” Paul quotes this in Romans 15 and takes the application in a different direction, but I would bring it back to John 15. The insults hurled at God fell on Jesus. “Whoever hates me hates my Father also.” And, “they have seen what I did, and they hate both me and my Father.” While being separate Persons, Jesus and the Father are stated to be “one”. “The Father is in me and I am in the Father”, He says elsewhere.

To insult God is to insult Jesus, and vice versa. But while He was on earth, the hatred towards God was manifested in the persecution of Jesus. Like in our gospel reading about the man who planted the vineyard. Let’s peek behind the parable, as I understand it. God entrusts Israel to the teachers of the Law and the chief priests. He sends servants to collect what is due to God, but they beat them all up, wanting to keep all the glory and honour for themselves. Eventually God sends His Son, Jesus, with the apparent expectation that they will respect Him. But no. They see the opportunity to get rid of God once and for all by killing the son and heir. This would put an end to all those pesky prophets who keep coming and telling them they’re doing it wrong. All the trappings of religious life are theirs. They’ve got their systems in place just as they like them. It’s all ticking along nicely. The people look up to them as super-examples of righteousness. They’ve got respect. They did charitable acts to get praise from people. They prayed loud and long on street corners so people would think, “how holy they are!” If they fasted, they made sure everyone knew it. They laid down the law and made sure people obeyed them. But Jesus contradicts all this. Jesus runs rings round them with His wisdom and knowledge.Time and again He makes them look stupid. So they plot to kill Jesus to get at God for disturbing their system. They can’t harm God directly, so they plot to kill His Son.

This vineyard metaphor is nothing new. It follows up the reading from Isaiah 5 and shows that nothing had changed in 700 years. So often the Old Testament has the same story. God does everything for Israel and they spit in His face. Thankfully there were exceptions and He always had that remnant that remained faithful. Instead of doing good, the people of Isaiah’s time showed their hatred of God by doing evil. Verse 7 sums it up: “Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.”

And so this leads me to ask the question - what does this mean for us? Do we sit back and gloat and say, I’d never treat God like that! Or do we lament along with God the sad downfall of Israel? In our world and in our day, when we hear the news or listen to people brag about their sinful lifestyles, or look at people who’ve made a mess of their lives, do we say, “I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.” Or do we acknowledge that, given different circumstances, we could be them? And instead of disgust at them, beat on our chests and say, ‘God, have pity on me, a sinner!’ It’s so easy to get angry or bitter when you see the way some people speak and act. I really have to try to stand back and try not to be judgemental. Without God’s grace and salvation, what would I be today?

Following God (Part Two)

Clearly, following God is not something we naturally do. We teach children to be good, not bad. Left to ourselves we go astray like sheep. Left to our own devices we look only to our own interests. Not all our intentions are only evil all the time, but that bent towards doing the wrong thing so easily dominates, whether we want to be good or not. God did the hard work. While we were His enemies, Christ died for us. While we scoffed at Him on the cross, Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” We pursued Him to death and He allowed Himself to be led to the slaughter. We didn’t love God. But He loved us. It’s no wonder we find it hard to obey God sometimes. Our very being naturally rebels at the thought. But He has placed His Holy Spirit in the believer to give us a desire to do it. With Him we have a fighting chance.

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.

Or we'll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.”

Psalm 33 places the spotlight on God and shows us why He is worth following.

The words of the Lord are true,

   and all his works are dependable.

The Lord loves what is righteous and just;

   his constant love fills the earth.

The Lord created the heavens by his command,

   the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.

Psalms 33:4‭-‬6

His word is upright. His works are faithful. He is a God who can be trusted. He won’t change His mind every five minutes or tell us one thing but do another. His character and His commands are consistent. He is reliable. He never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. God loves righteousness and justice. His goodness is there for all to see in the world He has created. God is on the side of right. He wants fairness in its fullest sense to prevail. He wants humanity to do what is good and to love one another. The fault lies with us that we don’t always do it. He is Creator of all. How can the creature be so obnoxious and ungrateful to God? Humanity, in effect, sticks its middle finger in the air and shouts “up yours! I’m the master of my fate! I can do anything I want. It’s my body! It’s my life! Butt out!” When we look at the character of God and the character of man, the contrast should be clear. Is it any wonder that following God can be hard, when everything in us propels us to do a Jonah and run away in the other direction? And yet, with God’s Holy Spirit in us, it is possible. We have been rescued from this body of death.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it. Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

Romans 8:2‭, ‬5‭-‬11

I think a good principle for following the Lord is to do it because it is the right thing to do - because God is worth following for His own sake. If we want to follow Him because of what we can get out of Him, I think we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. Not because we can’t trust Him to keep His promises, but because if He doesn’t do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it, then we’ll get down and angry and bitter. To love Him for His own sake is the way to go. Seek first His kingdom, then all other things will be given us. He isn’t going to hold anything back. “If God is for us, who can be against us?  Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

I want to close with some more words from Psalm 33, which ends with a prayer.

The Lord watches over those who obey him,

   those who trust in his constant love.

He saves them from death;

   he keeps them alive in times of famine.

We put our hope in the Lord;

   he is our protector and our help.

We are glad because of him;

   we trust in his holy name.

May your constant love be with us, Lord,

   as we put our hope in you.

Psalms 33:18‭-‬22

Following God (Part One)

We know from the Old Testament that the Israelites had a bit of a patchy history when it came to following the Lord. But they are by no means unique in that. What we may think of as the established church hasn’t always done what is right in the eyes of God. Child abuse by priests, covered up by bishops. The torture and murder of those they saw as heretics. Conversions at the point of a sword. Splitting over seemingly minor issues sometimes. And what about that early church to whom the apostles preached and Paul and others wrote their letters? A pristine, pure body of believers? Sadly not. It’s clear that there were real problems from what we read in Paul's letters, not to mention the letters to the churches in Revelation. Quarrels over the best leader to follow. Taking each other to court. Turning to false gospels. Gossiping and backbiting. I bet that doesn’t even sound like a big deal to us. It may not have been widespread but it was bad enough to mention. So, how about us? Are we any good at following God? Or is our devotion patchy, too?

In Numbers 9:15-23, we see one of those occasions on which the Israelites were very obedient. God directed them using a cloud which appeared over the tabernacle. When the cloud lifted, that was the sign to move. When it settled down, that was the place to camp. Now, I don’t know about you, but on the face of it that looks a bit easy. To have such a clear sign from God should be a doddle to obey. I wonder if this counts as “baby steps”?

Sometimes people will strangely say it's hard to know God's will. “You know what would make it really easy to obey? If God just told us straight out in plain words what He wanted us to do.” Yeah, He did that and we have it recorded in the Bible. Most of the time it's not really that difficult to know what He wants from us. But why accept the plain Word of God when you can complicate things to the point that everything can be objected to or interpreted in many contradictory ways? We sometimes seem to want to make things hard on ourselves. “The Bible is a big book and hard to understand! How about if God just came down and stood in front of us and spoke to us?” Yep, He did that as well! And we have His words recorded in the gospels. That didn't always go down well either. Even though God has spoken directly and often clearly, that doesn’t make following Him easier. Here's the problem: people don't always like what He’s telling us and we may decide we ain’t gonna do it. We find ways of saying “He didn’t really mean that”. It might well be clear what following Him entails, but it needs a heart and will to actually do it.

In our days we don’t have a cloud directing us or a physical Jesus on the ground to wander around with. And as we see in the Bible, neither of these guaranteed obedience either. Our task is potentially harder and potentially easier. We have to walk by faith and not by sight. But we have a written word to consult and the Holy Spirit of God living within us. Blessed are those who haven’t seen but believe anyway.

I don’t want to be down on the Israelites, the early church or the established church. There is likely often more good than bad. The problem is that the bad taints and spoils the good. I am very conscious that I also sin and fall short of the glory of God, along with everyone else. “Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.” (Jeremiah 17:9) So sick, we need a new heart. Chipping away at the heart of stone won’t work. “Everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.” (Romans 3:23-24) I know my shortcomings and how desperately I need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me. I wish it wasn’t so. When we come to take communion I often thank Him for dying for our sins and wishing that I hadn’t made it necessary.

As a hymnwriter put it:

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood,

Sealed my pardon with His blood: Halellujah! What a Saviour!

Guilty, vile and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement! Can it be? Halellujah! What a Saviour!”

And another:

“And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! (Romans 5:6‭, ‬8)

And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. (1 John 4:9‭-‬10)